MANGALORE: Mangalore University has cut its last vestigial link to University of Mysore - its parent university - by bringing out its own examination manual. A seven-member examination manual committee headed by PS Yadapadithaya, registrar, compiled the 106-page manual. This replaces the almost three-decades-old manual of conduct of university examinations.

If one takes the various annexures into consideration, the entire manual will run into 300-plus pages. It is expected to meet the university's needs for another decade, said TC Shivashankara Murthy, vice-chancellor.

The present manual aims at guiding the "effective, efficient and lawful conduct of university examinations diploma and certificate courses, comprising correspondence programme, UG and PG programmes, master of philosophy and doctor of philosophy programmes". The entire manual is coordinated in 10 chapters along with 40 appendices to give greater clarity to all aspects of examination processes.

The university at present conducts examinations for 155 streams of BA course, 25 streams of BSc course, six streams of BCom course, 15 other courses without sub-streams, 3 UG and PG correspondence programmes each, five regular PG programmes, four other PG courses without streams, Doctor of Philosophy in 26 streams, 3 PG diploma and one certificate course. The university also conducts 22 other diploma and certificate courses.

Yadapadithaya said the revamped manual will be sent for printing once language experts vet the minor spelling and grammar errors in the draft presented before the council. Copies will be distributed to all the 195 colleges - affiliated, constituent and autonomous.

"The revamp of the manual was a much needed exercise given that there have been lot of changes in university's functioning," Yadapadithaya said, adding that the manual will be the Bible for the university's academic processes.

The Dakshina Kannada District Federation of Consumer Organisations conducts certificate courses in consumer education at four colleges in the district, according to federation president M.J. Salian.

The colleges are: Govinda Dasa College and Canara College in Mangalore; St. Philomena College, Puttur, and the Government First Grade College in Kavoor. “The federation has MoUs with the colleges, and sends handbooks, co-ordinators, resource persons for the one-year course,” he said, while addressing a gathering on Monday.

The courses were being offered for the past three years and had received a good response. “There was a demand from other colleges to start the course, but this was not possible due to a shortage in resources,” Mr. Salian said. The certificate that students received at the end of the course had the name of the federation and the Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs on it, he said.

A consumer affairs magazine called Grahaka Chhaya priced at Rs. 5 (Rs. 3 for students) has also been brought out, Mr. Salian said. He said that students must remember they could use the Right to Information Act to get information, Mr. Salian said.

A unique feature of the mission is that it offers colleges financial grant of up to Rs. 75 lakh for offering courses in food processing

The Dakshina Kannada District Food Processing Mission has come into force under the Union government’s National Mission on Food Processing. A unique feature of the mission is that it offers colleges financial grant of up to Rs. 75 lakh for offering courses in food processing and setting up food processing units on a pilot basis.

Mune Gowda N., Deputy Director, Department of Horticulture, Dakshina Kannada, and Member-Secretary of the district mission, told The Hindu that the district mission, a 11-member body, came into being recently. It is headed by Deputy Commissioner N. Prakash. The National Mission on Food Processing had come into force under the 12th Plan.

Mr. Gowda said that colleges or universities would have to submit a project proposal to the district mission to avail the grant. The institutes could offer certificate, diploma, and degree or post-graduate courses on food processing. They could purchase books, e-journals, set up laboratories, and purchase laboratory equipment. The institutes could set up a pilot plant of food processing. The project proposal should encompass all the components.

He said the government would provide 10 per cent to 20 per cent (with a ceiling of Rs. 75 lakh) of the project cost to the universities after the government approved the project. It would be a one-time grant. Mr. Gowda said an autonomous college in the city had submitted a proposal to the district mission seeking grant as it had proposed to offer a post-graduate course in food processing. He said the mission offered financial grant for entrepreneurs for setting up new food processing units or upgrading the technology of their existing food processing units. The assistance would be up to 25 per cent of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs. 50 lakh. It provided 50 per cent assistance of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs. 10 crore for setting up cold storage units, value addition units, and to purchase refrigerated vans which support supply chain development.

The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or any other identified institutes or bodies which promoted food processing activities through seminars, workshops, training programmes, exhibitions, and tours could avail from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh. There would be a one-year follow up of the activities of the beneficiary institutes or bodies. For example, if an institute trained 20 candidates in food processing, how many of them had ventured into food processing would be monitored for one year. He said that in addition to horticulture produce, the food processing activities applied to fish, meat, and dairying.

Mr. Gowda said as the financial year 2012-13 would end in three months, the mission now would focus on promotional activities for the remaining months in the district.

Mangalore, Jan 4: Mangalore does qualify to possess an IIT but it will take some time for the government to give its nod for the same as overseeing of complete implementation of IIT’s granted in the 11th five year plan needs to be done in the first place, said Pallam Raju, Union Minister for Human Resource Development.

Speaking at an interaction session with members of the Congress party at the district Congress office in Mangalore on Friday, Mr. Raju said in response to the demand made by former MLA Vijay Kumar Shetty and other Congress leaders of allowing an IIT for NITK, Surathkal, that Mangalore deserves an IIT but the process may take time.

Women’s University

“Unless the IITs granted in the 11th plan are established, it is difficult to talk about setting up of new IITs. But Mangalore certainly qualifies to have an IIT. The city being an educational hub, a separate Women’s University may also come up in due course of time”, the Minister said.
To a suggestion made by J R Lobo, Former Commissioner, MCC, about including agriculture and horticulture in school syllabi, Mr. Raju said that such a step indeed needs to be taken as rural children need academic exposure to a discipline that they are good at. The Minister asked members of the party present in the gathering to seriously consider including agriculture as part of school syllabuses if the party comes to power in the state.
On the issue of having better R&D (Research and Development) in the academic circles, Mr. Raju said that the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other similar institutions must be made to pump funds into R&D development at local levels. The Government of India is also aware of enhancing R&D in the country. “Currently only 0.85% of our GDP is spent on R&D whereas China spends 3%. The Prime Minister has promised that it will be increased to 2%”, he said.

NEET

U T Khader, MLA, brought to the notice of the Minister the issue of NEET entrance tests and problems being faced by the students and teachers in the state. Both students as well as teachers have been accustomed to state syllabus all this while and with NEET and the changed central syllabus coming in, there was a need to provide training to students and teachers which has not happened, he said. Salaries have not been paid to high school teachers in the state in the last three months by the state government, he said.
Not a single high school, PU or degree college has been started by the state government in its current term and whatever activity has been carried out is mere implementation of Centre’s projects by the state government, he added.

For its quality of education and sheer number of students, literecy rate and over above all the percentage of students getting in top list rank from undivided DK and entering professional courses Mangalore or Udupi district needs an IIT..

If not Mangalore we will be happy somewhere in the lap of nature like Moodbidri, Karkala, should be somewhere between Mangalore and Kundapur..

Mangalore: St Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology organised a Guest Lecture on Determination and Perseverance delivered by Ashok L Aranha, Head of Purchasing Worldwide, Arcelor Mittal at the Main Auditorium of the AIMIT campus here on Thursday, 3 January 2013.

The Function commenced with the college choir leading the gathering through prayer. Fr Denzil Lobo SJ, Director, AIMIT, addressed the gathering and introduced the guest to the audience, The welcome speech was delivered by Babitha.

Aranha started his talk by speaking on the three C’s of management - Concern, Compassion and Commitment. He also spoke on his experience with the Tata’s which ran up to 26 years. His meeting with Laxmi Mittal in 1991 and his subsequent bonding and employment with Mittals were also spoken about.

Aranha also threw light on how the Mittals went on to acquire more brown field pants and how they rose to become a giant from a small operating company. Producing 240,000 tons of steel. The determination and grit they displayed at Khazakisthan working under extreme conditions of -30’C converting it to the most profitable plant for Mittal was elaborately described.

He ended the talk by exhorting the students to identify their area of competency and act accordingly. The talk was followed by a face to face discussion.

Father Ozwald Mascharenhas spoke on the occasion and gave his valuable inputs and Presented the guest with a Memento.

Daphnie delivered the vote of thanks. The programme concluded by singing the college anthem. After the programme Aranha visited the AIMIT campus. He was given a presentation of the history, progress and vision for AIMIT by Fr Denzil Lobo SJ. He also saw the Management Lab- a unique feature of AIMIT to train the future entrepreneurs.

Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology (pmTUC) will open a pmIndia Innovation Lab in collaboration with the Manipal University. The inauguration ceremony is scheduled for 24 January, 2013 at the Manipal University Innovation Centre, Manipal.

The laboratory will be for the applied printed paper photovoltaics and will be setup in the campus at Manipal.

In the last decade, pmTUC has focused on printing electronic devices on paper. Photovoltaics, which refers to the electronic conversion of light into electricity, has been particularly considered as attractive. However, silicon electronics could not satisfy the expectations, despite extensive and costly research.

The contribution of photovoltaics to power generation is small today and excellent research has brought about complex solar technologies, which still produce expensive electricity. Now, printed paper photovoltaic (3PV) concept pursues the strategy to produce solar panels, which not only have moderate energy efficiencies and rather short life times, but which are also prepared with the cheapest possible materials and by means of very cost-effective mass-printing, thus, offering significant advantages in the overall balance.

With the latest publication on solar cells, it was possible to establish a research facility focusing on the application side. This will be a next step in the Indo-German collaboration.

Manipal University is one of the oldest private universities across India. The technical courses of Manipal University will provide a skilled platform for this laboratory.

Mangalore, Jan 13: If things go as per plan, St Aloysius College (Autonomous) is set to become University on its own in a couple of years. This was revealed by Fr Swebert D’Silva, principal of the College and director of St Aloysius College Alumni/ae Association (SACAA), in his message at the college annual reunion organized on SACAA platform at the college campus on Saturday January 12.

In his message at the reunion, Fr D’Silva said that the college imparts some special values – of competence, conscience, compassion and commitment. "When you are able to live up to these values, you become brand ambassadors of this college. When the college becomes a University, it will need the help of its alumni in terms of expertise and various other contributions." He acknowledged their love and support extended to the college in its endeavors and sought their collaboration to take the institution to even greater heights.

Speaking on the occasion, Fr Rodrigues said that what started for providing education for Catholics in Mangalore 132 years ago has today grown into an educational conglomerate with about 14,000 students at the main campus alone. "There are 23 institutions under the Mangalore Jesuit Educational Society, including two major campuses at Beeri, near Mangalore, and Harihar. Many of these were established to mark the centenary and post-centenary golden jubilee of the college," he said.

Fr Rodrigues said that there are less Jesuits than the number of institutions and noted that they could be managed because of the help and support of lay people, both Catholics and non-Catholics. He urged ex-Aloysians to continue to support the Jesuit institutions in imparting wholesome education to the youth.

The focus of the reunion this year was the ambitious Swimming Pool Project, to be built to international standards, providing for 8 lanes of 50 metres each. It involves a cost of over Rs 4 crore and the University Grants Commission has sanctioned Rs one crore for it.

The chief guest, Dr Pai, so far the largest individual donor for the project, promised to do even more for it. More than the offer of enhanced donation, Dr Pai moved the audience with his spirited extempore speech wherein he exhorted the parents to encourage their children to be job-creators rather than job-seekers. The audience repeatedly clapped moved by his inspirational exhortations to give back to society what they drew from it, especially educational institutions – adding that he would continue to feel indebted despite whatever philanthropy he could do.

Fr Francis Almeida, who spearheads the fund-raising for the swimming pool project, conducted the “pot-luck” programme at the reunion venue by moving among the audience with an earthen pot from which well-wishers of the project drew chits bearing a number from 600 to 5999, which is the amount to be settled later through cheque.

A centre for studying the importance of plants of the Western Ghats comes up at Mangalore varsity

Endemic, endangerd and threatened plants of the Western Ghats being conserved on four acres of land on the premises of Mangalore University at Mangalagangotri

The Mangalore University has set up a Centre of Excellence for Bio-diversity and Bio-prospecting. Its main objective is conservation of endemic, rare, threatened and endangered species of the Western Ghats and bio-prospecting of the plants under a project funded by the State Government, according to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, T.C. Shivashankara Murthy.

According to K.R. Chandrashekar, Professor in Applied Botany and Principal Investigator of the project, some of the plants of the Western Ghats have not been studied at all. No literature is available if they are pharmacologically important or not as their pharmacological compounds have not been studied and recorded.

The centre will study the importance of such plants with their chemical nature under the project and record their importance.

He said that the university has planted 40 varieties of the Western Ghats species on a four-acre land under the project funded by the Vision Group on Science and Technology of the Department of Science and Technology of Karnataka Government. They include endemic, threatened, vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered categories. The government has sanctioned Rs. 60 lakh for the project for three years.

MANGALORE: It is common to see students flock to the Dakshina Kannada district, an education hub in Karnataka, for cutting-edge teaching. But what is not so common is that students prefer the district's coaching centers to train for the Common Entrance Test, the gateway examination for professional courses in the state.

With less than five months left for the CET, students are approaching coaching centres that dot the city. The Expert Coaching Classes (ECC) has declared its seats are filled for this year. Students are trained for CET after the second-year pre-university course exams end.

ECC communications and marketing chief Ananth Prabhu told TOI some 2,000 students from across Karnataka, a good number of them from North Karnataka, land in the district. "Some of them are from Bangalore," he said.

CET coaching centers in the district have been attracting students for at least a decade. The USP is the winning combination of easy-to-understand coaching and descontructed approach to crack the seemingly tough Physics and Mathematics papers. He said most lecturers who author Science PU textbooks and CET assistance literature are from the district.

Anil Mascarenhas, teaching faculty at Boscoss Tutorials, said CET toppers since 2000 are products of the district's coaching centres. "We conduct coaching in two batches with 60 students in each batch. At least 30 of them are from outside of Dakshina Kananda," Anil said.

As is the practice, CET coaching centres admit students with sound academic record. But Cosmos Tutorials has been reserving 15 seats per batch for 12 years for students who need handholding.

Cosmos Tutorials founder Mohammed Nadeem said at least five of these 15 academically disadvantaged students are from outside of the district. "They come to Dakshina Kannada because the region is known for quality education and its sterling record in SSLC and PUC exams."

MANGALORE, JAN. 18:
Mangalore University has taken steps to improve infrastructure at its two constituent colleges in Mangalore and Madikeri.

T.C. Shivashankaramurthy, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said this while inaugurating the BBM block at University College in Mangalore city on Friday. University College in Mangalore city is a constituent college of Mangalore University.

Giving details of the infrastructure development at University College in Mangalore, he said around Rs 1.80 crore has already been spent on the infrastructure development. Added to this, the university has built a BBM block at a cost of Rs 2.3 crore on the college campus.

The university is planning to add more postgraduate courses at its campus in University College. He said that the University College will have a new look by June this year.

Stating that constituent colleges in Mangalore and Madikeri have been accredited with ‘A’ grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council), he said these colleges will now seek ‘centre of excellence’ status.

H.R. Lakshminarayana Bhat, Principal of University College, said the college has a history of more than 125 years. Earlier, this college was called the Government College. It became a constituent college of Mangalore University 20 years ago. Since then it is known as University College, he said.

P.S. Yadapadithaya, Registrar of Mangalore University, and Chinnappa Gowda, former Registrar of the university, spoke on the occasion

3-day international conference on ‘Recent advances in material sciences and technology’ begins

The National Institute of Technology-Karnataka (NITK) has been sanctioned with three centres for excellence under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) phase II, of which one centre will be the centre for excellence in advance material science technology, said NITK Dean-Social Welfare Dr Gopal Mugeraya.

He was delivering presidential address at the inauguration of three-day international conference on ‘Recent advances in material sciences and technology-2013’ (ICRAMST-13) organised by the Department of Chemistry at NITK campus on Thursday. He said three centers including the centre for material sciences, cloud computing and renewable energy and smart grid will be developed at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore, of which TEQIP has already released Rs six crore to initiate the work.

Later, elaborating the same to media persons, Dr Mugeraya said the centres will be developed by pooling in the already existing equipment at the departments and purchasing additional equipment using the sanctioned amount.

The project works on a simple formula wherein the government funds for developing the centre, NITK will house the equipment, students can make optimal use of available equipment and the industry will put recurring expenditure. Specially at a time when the industries find it hard to invest on developing such centres, the government’s initiative will help in numerous ways, he told.

Meanwhile, attributing the role of various departments in developing the centres, he said the centre for material sciences will be developed with the co-ordination of four departments including metallurgy, chemistry, physics and chemical engineering and it will be led by the metallurgy department. While cloud computing will be led by the computer science department and centre for renewable energy and smart grid will be led by the electrical department. “The centres will be developed and managed by the existing faculties, in the absence of any special employees reserved for the purpose. The expertise will be shared by all the departments,” the Dean said.

TEQIP had sanctioned Rs 20 crore for the development of various departments in NITK, under its phase I programme.

Research and industry

Earlier, chief guest of the programme, Shell Technologies (Bangalore) Regional Manager Dr S Girish Rao emphasised on the need for the industry and research to go hand in hand. There is a lot of scope for the students pursuing education in institutes like NITK, to take up research work in collaboration with the industry. “I have come here to explore such possibilities, where the educational institutes and the research centres like Shell Technologies can work hand in hand to meet the growing demand for energy,” he said.

MANGALORE: The 145-year-old University College, a constituent college of Mangalore University, is all set to get a facelift. Plans are afoot to build eight new classrooms at a cost of Rs 1.10 crore and a new auditorium at a cost of Rs 38 lakh on the college campus.

The college at present has 30 classrooms, an auditorium and a seminar hall.

Presently over 1,600 students are pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate courses and others the college which has around 30 classrooms, one auditorium and a seminar hall.

TC Shivashankara Murthy, vice-chancellor of the university, who recently inaugurated the new BBM block building at the college, told TOI that an exclusive rest room for girls will also come up on the campus.

For providing good quality teaching, the college got 'A' grade from National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) in September 2010.

"The infrastructure developments will help the college to get 'Potential for excellence' scheme benefits from the University Grants Commission, which has given an A grade for the college, in the coming days," the VC said.

He added that the tenders for construction works at the college premises have been already called. "Already Rs 1.8 crore has been spent for various development works. We are also planning build an asphalted road on the campus," he said. About 1,600 students are studying the college currently.

NEW COURSE PLANNED

Of the 56 full time teaching faculties in the college 36 have doctoral degrees. Since there is a demand for postgraduate courses for the college, the university is planning to start MA in Kannada, economics and political science courses from next academic year.

"These three courses have been planned to utilize the potential of 36 faculties who have doctoral degree," he added.

Laxminarayana Bhatta HR, the college principal, said the new classrooms are needed as the available classrooms will not be sufficient after the start of PG courses.

Green Ranking: Manipal University holds on to second position in India once again

Quote:

By Stanley PintoStanley Pinto, TNN | Jan 24, 2013, 11.37 AM IST

MANGALORE: Manipal University has once again been ranked at number two overall and first in suburban category among Indian universities in the Universitas Indonesia's Green Metric Ranking for world universities 2012.

The results are computed from information provided by universities online. The information relates to six main categories and their weightings are: Green Statistics (15%), Energy and Climate Change (21%), Waste management (18%), Water usage (10%), Transportation (18%), and Education (18%).

In the global rankings, Manipal University was placed at 118 among the 215 universities from 49 countries in the overall, 37th in the suburban and 87th in the comprehensive categories respectively. IIT, Madras was the best among the Indian Universities and was ranked 62nd globally. IIT, Bombay was ranked third best in India and 142nd in the world.

University of Connecticut was first in the world rankings in the overall and comprehensive categories and the University of Bath topped in the suburban category. Universities from the US, the UK, Japan, and countries in Europe, Palestinian, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Romania and South Africa, China, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Mexico, and South Africa took part in the survey.

The UI Green Metric Ranking is innovative in that it is the first world-wide college-based commitment to the development of sustainable infrastructure, education and research. The ranking methodology is based on a widely accepted principle that measuring sustainability should involve three things: Environment, Economics and Equity (the 3 Es).

The ranking not only helps to raise awareness about these issues, but is also proving to be a catalyst to put in place 'green' campus management policies around the world. It is drawing the attention of university leaders and stake holders to combat global climate change, energy and water conservation, waste recycling, and green transportation.